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Global partnership for women is topic for Oct. 21

Posted October 17, 2003; 04:05 p.m.

by tbartus

lecture on "Vital Voices: A Global Partnership for Women" will be presented at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, in 16 Robertson Hall.

The speaker will be Theresa Loar, president of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization dedicated to promoting women's roles in building strong democracies and vibrant economies around the world.

A former diplomat with extensive foreign policy experience, Loar was the principal adviser to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on international women's issues. She co-founded and directed the President's Interagency Council on Women, a task force to develop programs and policies for women and their families as a follow-up to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. She directed the U.S. government policy planning and participation in the Beijing conference, and led U.S. delegations to a number of international conferences on women and democracy.

Through the President's Council on Women, Loar helped to create a number of programs including the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, a private-public partnership which generated more than $20 million in projects to support women as democracy builders. She also developed the U.S. government's campaign to combat trafficking in women and children.

As the senior coordinator for International Women's Issues at the Department of State, Loar led the effort to integrate the advancement of women into U.S. foreign policy. She began her work on women's human rights at the State Department just a few days after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan in October 1996. She has been a forceful advocate for U.S. policy to promote and protect the human rights of Afghan women and girls. She also has served in diplomatic posts in Mexico and South Korea.